The Irreligion of the Poor and of Savages

[Those curious about the history of the Victorian Web (which began before the WWW in another hypermedia environment) might be interested to learn that this document was one of the very first written specifically for what became this site by someone outside Brown University. (The materials on public health that Professor Wohl also contributed came from his previously published book [GPL].]

By Victorian definition, savages have no true religion but only superstition. Thus Charles Mackay could generalize that Blacks practice fetishes and "mumbo jumbo." Contemporaries similarly remarked on the irreligion of the working classes, particularly what Mayhew termed their "rude idea of the Creator."